A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter
Ringed seals Phoca hispida, the smallest of the marine arctic pinnipeds, are one of only two seal species in the world adapted to life in the land-fast sea ice. The habitat is characterized by a stable ice platform forming in early winter and lies at latitudes subject to extreme low temperatures. Th...
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1991
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/64582 2023-05-15T13:19:53+02:00 A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Taugbøl, Geir 1991-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64582 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64582/48496 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64582 ARCTIC; Vol. 44 No. 2 (1991): June: 95–175; 124-131 1923-1245 0004-0843 Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal physiology Cold adaptation Cold physiology Predation Sea ice ecology Seals (Animals) Winter ecology Wildlife habitat Amundsen Gulf N.W.T Arctic regions Baffin Island Nunavut Barrow Strait Canadian Arctic Islands waters Svalbard Svalbard waters info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1991 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:21:48Z Ringed seals Phoca hispida, the smallest of the marine arctic pinnipeds, are one of only two seal species in the world adapted to life in the land-fast sea ice. The habitat is characterized by a stable ice platform forming in early winter and lies at latitudes subject to extreme low temperatures. The small body size of adults and semi-altricial pups are an unusual adaptation to cold, allowing ringed seals to use shelters that they construct in the snow overlying their breathing holes. These small subnivean structures act to hide adults and pups from predators, especially polar bears, Ursus maritimus, and arctic foxes, Alopex lagopus. It appears that dry lanugal pups could withstand the arctic cold without shelter, but pups that have been wetted become hypothermic and require shelter to regain thermoneutrality. Since female seals actively swim away with their pups from attacks on their birth lairs by foxes and bears, both the physical and the thermal protection of alternate subnivean lairs are important for the survival of the neonate. Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli, resident in the land-fast ice of the Antarctic, are the ecological counterpart of the ringed seal. Their large body size is typical of the usual cold adaptive strategy of other polar phocid seals.Key words: ringed seal, behaviour, development, physiology, adaptations, arctic winter, Phoca hispida Mots clés: phoque annelé, comportement, développement, physiologie, adaptations, hiver arctique, Phoca hispida Article in Journal/Newspaper Alopex lagopus Amundsen Gulf Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Arctique* Baffin Island Baffin Leptonychotes weddelli Nunavut Phoca hispida phoque annelé ringed seal Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus Weddell Seals University of Calgary Journal Hosting Antarctic Arctic Baffin Island Barrow Strait ENVELOPE(-94.168,-94.168,74.402,74.402) Nunavut Svalbard The Antarctic Weddell ARCTIC 44 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal physiology Cold adaptation Cold physiology Predation Sea ice ecology Seals (Animals) Winter ecology Wildlife habitat Amundsen Gulf N.W.T Arctic regions Baffin Island Nunavut Barrow Strait Canadian Arctic Islands waters Svalbard Svalbard waters |
spellingShingle |
Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal physiology Cold adaptation Cold physiology Predation Sea ice ecology Seals (Animals) Winter ecology Wildlife habitat Amundsen Gulf N.W.T Arctic regions Baffin Island Nunavut Barrow Strait Canadian Arctic Islands waters Svalbard Svalbard waters Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Taugbøl, Geir A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter |
topic_facet |
Animal behaviour Animal ecology Animal physiology Cold adaptation Cold physiology Predation Sea ice ecology Seals (Animals) Winter ecology Wildlife habitat Amundsen Gulf N.W.T Arctic regions Baffin Island Nunavut Barrow Strait Canadian Arctic Islands waters Svalbard Svalbard waters |
description |
Ringed seals Phoca hispida, the smallest of the marine arctic pinnipeds, are one of only two seal species in the world adapted to life in the land-fast sea ice. The habitat is characterized by a stable ice platform forming in early winter and lies at latitudes subject to extreme low temperatures. The small body size of adults and semi-altricial pups are an unusual adaptation to cold, allowing ringed seals to use shelters that they construct in the snow overlying their breathing holes. These small subnivean structures act to hide adults and pups from predators, especially polar bears, Ursus maritimus, and arctic foxes, Alopex lagopus. It appears that dry lanugal pups could withstand the arctic cold without shelter, but pups that have been wetted become hypothermic and require shelter to regain thermoneutrality. Since female seals actively swim away with their pups from attacks on their birth lairs by foxes and bears, both the physical and the thermal protection of alternate subnivean lairs are important for the survival of the neonate. Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli, resident in the land-fast ice of the Antarctic, are the ecological counterpart of the ringed seal. Their large body size is typical of the usual cold adaptive strategy of other polar phocid seals.Key words: ringed seal, behaviour, development, physiology, adaptations, arctic winter, Phoca hispida Mots clés: phoque annelé, comportement, développement, physiologie, adaptations, hiver arctique, Phoca hispida |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Taugbøl, Geir |
author_facet |
Smith, Thomas G. Hammill, Michael O. Taugbøl, Geir |
author_sort |
Smith, Thomas G. |
title |
A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter |
title_short |
A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter |
title_full |
A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter |
title_fullStr |
A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Review of the Developmental, Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations of the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida, to Life in the Arctic Winter |
title_sort |
review of the developmental, behavioural and physiological adaptations of the ringed seal, phoca hispida, to life in the arctic winter |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1991 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64582 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-94.168,-94.168,74.402,74.402) |
geographic |
Antarctic Arctic Baffin Island Barrow Strait Nunavut Svalbard The Antarctic Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Arctic Baffin Island Barrow Strait Nunavut Svalbard The Antarctic Weddell |
genre |
Alopex lagopus Amundsen Gulf Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Arctique* Baffin Island Baffin Leptonychotes weddelli Nunavut Phoca hispida phoque annelé ringed seal Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Alopex lagopus Amundsen Gulf Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Arctique* Baffin Island Baffin Leptonychotes weddelli Nunavut Phoca hispida phoque annelé ringed seal Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus Weddell Seals |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 44 No. 2 (1991): June: 95–175; 124-131 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64582/48496 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64582 |
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ARCTIC |
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44 |
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2 |
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1766350086071123968 |